If you failed to pay a traffic ticket in Kansas, you probably know now what you wished you had known before. If you didn’t pay your ticket within 30 days and didn’t make arrangements to pay your fine or go to court, your license was suspended.
Advocates and legislators have long criticized the system they say appallingly left thousands of Kansans stuck without legal means to drive — sometimes for years — often because they lacked the funds to pay a ticket in a timely manner.
They say the law disproportionately and unfairly impacted poor and low-income Kansans.
Effective Jan. 1, a new law passed during the 2024 legislative session puts in place a number of changes that provides more breathing room between the time someone fails to pay a ticket or show up in court and when or if their license is suspended.
The law tackles a bunch of different parts of the license law. It makes it easier to get a restricted license if your license is suspended, reduces the fees individuals must pay to get their license back and gives local courts the flexibility to waive fees and offer alternative methods to pay off fines particularly for individuals experiencing proven “financial hardships.”
By the end of January, state officials said that 123,549 drivers — about 1 in every 15 drivers in Kansas — had their license suspended because of a failure to comply. These are supposed to be temporary suspensions, but state research found that some suspensions last decades, primarily because people couldn’t pay the fines.
While there was much fanfare around the reform at its passage — it’s the first substantial change to the law since 2021 — legal experts and state officials caution that since going into effect on Jan. 1, there’s still more work to be done to figure out how the law will function for the more than 250,000 drivers with a restricted, suspended or revoked license.
So What’s New?
The new law changes the rules and policies related to restricted, suspended, and revoked licenses. (See below for definition of restricted, suspended and revoked license.)
Put on Notice
Instead of automatically suspending a person’s license if they fail to pay their ticket in a timely manner, the new law has the state restrict a driver’s license first.
Under the new system, a driver who receives a traffic citation has 30 days to pay the fines for that ticket. If the driver doesn’t pay the fine, appear in court, or make a payment arrangement with the jurisdiction who issued their ticket, then the court will notify the state’s Division of Vehicles that the driver has “failed to comply.”
That’s when a notice is mailed to the address listed on the driver’s license that their driving is restricted. Once the notice is sent, a 60-day clock starts that allows the driver to pay the ticket, appear in court or make a payment with the court before their license is suspended.
Being in compliance doesn’t require a person to pay the ticket in full. However, if they enter into a payment agreement with the courts but fail to meet the terms of that agreement, they will no longer be considered in “compliance.”
If an individual hasn’t kept the address on their license up to date, they’ll likely miss that important notification.
Restricted Licenses
You can’t legally drive if your license is suspended, but that doesn’t stop a lot of people.
Micah Tempel is an attorney with Kansas Legal Services. He said that studies show about 75% of people with suspended licenses continue to drive “because we live in a society built around the car.”
That’s a gamble. If a driver is pulled over for another traffic violation while they have a suspended license, they’ll end up with a new case for that citation as well as a criminal charge for driving while suspended.
People with a suspended license do have some options, though.
They can apply with the division of vehicles for another restricted license. Under the new law, if the restricted license application is granted,drivers will have their restricted driving privileges indefinitely until their failure to comply is fixed. Prior to Jan. 1, restricted licenses were limited to 12 months.
The state’s restricted driver’s license allows individuals to drive to and from a location for a list of defined purposes: work, school, drug or alcohol counseling, an appointment with a healthcare provider or in a medical emergency and as part of work responsibilities.
The new law added driving to and from the grocery store, daycare, gas stations and religious services to the list of allowable activities.
Substantial Compliance
A not-so-clear concept introduced under the new law is a status referred to as “substantial compliance.”
Before, “compliance” was a black-and-white issue. If a driver had any unpaid fees or fines, courts were required to send the state a notice about the driver’s outstanding balance, triggering an automatic license suspension. .
Now, judges are allowed to decide if the work someone has done through an approved alternative like attending diversion, completing community services or complying with a payment agreement, is adequate enough to declare them in “substantial compliance” with the court’s orders. The court notifies the state that the obligation to the court on that citation or citations have been met.
There doesn’t seem to be a consensus so far exactly what “substantial compliance” is and how it works.
Nathan Emmory is the Wichita municipal court administrator. He said understanding of this part of the law is something that’s still developing among judges and court staff.
Emmory said it’s unclear if a driver would have to make a motion before a judge to request a determination of substantial compliance and at what point someone’s work would be considered substantial.
Others believe the wording was left intentionally vague to allow the judge a level of discretion based on the circumstances.
Even so, Emmory said the Wichita courts are working to apply this part of the law more often, starting with cases where the only reason an individual’s license is not being reinstated is because of an unpaid reinstatement fee.
Once a judge determines substantial compliance, that would remove the driving suspension for that case.
He did caution that many people have multiple cases or suspensions at the same time so this determination from a judge doesn’t necessarily get someone their driving privileges back, but it’s a start.
Reinstatement Fees
In addition to fines, drivers in the systems are subject to a number of fees including court costs and license reinstatement fees.
Before this year, drivers were required to pay a reinstatement fee for every citation they were issued. For example, if you were cited for speeding, driving without a seat belt and driving on a suspended license, you’d have to pay a reinstatement fee for each citation issued. Effective Jan. 1, the fee to reinstate a license is capped at $100 per case.
Revoked Licenses
A revoked license is the most stringent of the state’s license penalties and it’s a status that lasts for three years. Previously, if an individual’s license was revoked, they didn’t qualify for restricted license privileges.
Now, an individual may be able to qualify for restricted driving privileges if they don’t have more than three convictions for driving on a suspended license due to a failure to comply case. If the driver does qualify, they can have restricted driving privileges for the rest of their time with a revoked license.
So is the Law Helping?
State data shows out of the thousands of drivers with suspended or revoked licenses, since the new law went into effect only about 500 submitted applications to the division of vehicles for restricted driving privileges.
Between the start of the year and end of January, only about 40% of the 1,626 drivers who were referred to the state for failure to comply were given the 60-day period to comply.
The other 60% did not qualify because their licenses were already suspended or revoked or because the severity of the citation didn’t allow them to qualify for the extension. For example, drivers ticketed for DUI do not qualify under this new system.
Local advocacy groups say they’ve worked for years to get this far. The Wichita Racial Profiling Advisory Board was one of those organizations. The board worked closely with Kansas state Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau for almost a decade to get bills introduced each session that offered reforms to the state’s driver’s license suspension laws.
They made some strides in 2021 on expanding access to restricted privileges for drivers whose licenses were suspended. Board chair Sheila Officer said the group’s latest push was to get individuals with revoked licenses the right to drive on a restricted basis.
That’s in the bill, but some of the more sweeping reforms in the legislation have yet to pan out.
According to Tempel, one of the ineffective measures was a section that was meant to help individuals whose driver’s licenses were still suspended because of years-old failure to comply cases. The law states that the courts or division of vehicles won’t consider any failure to comply “convictions” older than five years. The state says this part of the law doesn’t apply to everyday drivers because they are not convicted for failure to comply, they’re sanctioned.
The new law has enhanced some of the work that Wichita city staff are doing to make the license restoration process more accessible.
Emmory heads up the Wichita Area Restoration Program that helps individuals view their driving records and understand their license status. Members of his team also work to help drivers fill out restoration applications and applications for manifest hardship. Manifest hardship determinations can help individuals get some of their outstanding fees waived.
The Racial Profiling Advisory Board of Wichita has also created a guide for how to navigate the process in Wichita and Sedgwick County specifically. Part of the law mandated that forms needed in the restoration process be available to drivers in court.
“I’m going to say this is a good step forward, but it should not be the only step,” Officer said.
What’s your status?
A valid license means you have no legal encumbrances on your license. The new bill doesn’t impact individuals with a valid license, but it does help if you get a driving citation by impacting the rules and policies surrounding suspending your license.
A suspended license means you can’t drive legally until you remedy a citation, fines or court order. Your license may be suspended for a number of reasons, most often for failure to comply, or failure to pay you fine within the allotted timeframe.
A revoked license means you can’t legally drive for a period of three years. Once that time is up you’ll still need to remedy whatever situation prompted the original revocation — like paying a fee, completing a court ordered class or adding a breathalyzer to your car — and then reapply for your license.
A restricted license allows you to drive to and from a set of specific locations legally even as you may be dealing with penalties from the courts around your driving behavior.
Unsure of your status? The state’s Division of Vehicles has created a website where you can input your name and driver’s license number to see your license status: www.KDOR.ks.gov/Apps/DLStatus.